††† ||The "GABETULA" files|| †††

"Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle... who subdues people under me." - Psalms 144:1-3

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Old time boxing!

Below are 2 videos of Boxers Bruce Lee gained inspiration from in developing JKD.

Please enjoy!

Muhammad Ali:


Jack Dempsey:



“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” - Bruce Lee

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Win some, lose some

Hi guys,

Sorry for the late post once again, was away at chalet for my 1yr Anniversary Celebrations. Anyway I lost this match, but I'll be back for more. This time better! Interestingly, i was rather composed and not as nervous as before. But I felt alot more reserved during the fight and wouldnt do things that I usually do during sparring. I almost froze up and fought like a machine.

Reflections:

Have to learn and practise working the clinch man!
Gotta work on my heart, endurance and fitness level!
Less telegraphy on the punches
Train my legs hard enough to be comfortable throwing kicks!
Have to start on explosive strength training
As Sean summed it up nicely, Back to the strategic drawing boards for next time round.

Ok less talk more action right guys?

Heres the match:



Im the one in blue who ate alot of knees.

Enjoy and as usual, Constructive Criticism is encouraged!

Special Thanks to the following people for making it happen,

Gyms and teams:
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  • Combat Academy
  • IJKD
  • Team Fortitude
  • Lanna Muaythai and AMA(S) for sanctioning this event

People:
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  1. Zamri for encouraging and motivating
  2. Kadir for his interesting theories and notable "100metre finger judgement theory"
  3. Sascha Soliano for allowing me to train with Combat Academy
  4. David Alexis for initially helping to develop my punching power and timing
  5. Mark Stewart for his introduction of JKD and combative sports
  6. Aaron "The Ghost" Fisher for his constant pushing in particular, "SUCK IT UP! YOU'RE NOT GONNA QUIT ON ME ARE YOU?"
  7. Sean "Big Drunk Prawn" Chia and the rest of the guys at TF who helped with my training
  8. All those that trained/sparred with me to help prepare me for the competition
  9. Betram, Sing, Evans, Zul, Pet and the rest who were there to support me
  10. My beloved girl who did not tell on me and encouraged me
  11. Everybody who gave me words of encouragement by phone
  12. My opponent who gave me a good fight and no injuries to explain for during CNY visiting

    Lastly, to whoever I may have missed out that deserve my sincere "Thank you"

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Bruce Lee's Advice for the Novice

Hi guys, below is a compilation of some of Bruce Lee's famous quotes in regards to fighting. It makes alot of sense to me and seems like most of what he says favours my style of fighting requiring me to be in a relaxed state of mind. Lastly, reading it helps keep me pumped up but at the same time calm and ready until this Saturday. Hope it helps you too!

In regards to Fighting:
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Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being "wholly" and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.

The highest technique is to have no technique. My technique is a result of your technique; my movement is a result of your movement... One should not respond to circumstance with artificial and "wooden" prearrangement... In combat, spontaneity rules; rote performance of technique perishes.

In regards to fear in battle;losing and getting hurt:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life. Do not be concerned with escaping safely - lay your life before him.


-Bruce Lee

Enter The Ring '07 Closing in!

You guessed it from the title;

I will be in the ring once again this coming Saturday, Feb 10th from 6-10pm. This time I will be fighting on the Muaythai Ring at Tanglin CC.

This is really an unexpected oncoming event for me, I have never ever dreamt of stepping into the MT circuit be it Amateur or not.

As a JKD person strongly influenced by Strategy (E.g. Five ways of attack), MT often came across as a 'not-my-cup-of-tea' style due to its "strongman battle likeness" where the stronger of the 2 would remain standing. Alas a trait that is found in many hard styles, one of which would be the world famous Kyokushin Karate.

I have always and will always be a fan of fighting styles that favor strategy over head-on trading of punches and kicks. This is not to say however, that I am not a Full Contact believer.

My point to say is that, My preferred style would be more of a Brains > Brawns.
There is this certain 'Individualism' aka "Freedom of Expression" I see in Boxing that I find lacking in MT.

This is the reason why, even though preferring more tool manipulation and all, I would still rather watch boxing than MT.

Anyway besides the above point, there is this thing about the Traditional Thai culture (Wai Kryu and all) that I really don’t favor over the modern culture seen in other Modern Combat Sports.

So why am I stepping in the ring then despite all this negativities I have for the sport?

Basically, it happened that my JKD sifu, Mark Stewart had to leave for Thailand due to unforeseen circumstances and I figured that if I wanted to get into the cage before I get conscripted, the next best option would be to join the MT class which would definitely give me the conditioning I desire despite the disagreements I had with the head-on style taught generally.

So back on track, I was due to compete in Sanda friendly in December but Alvin who was also competing and supposed to help me with registration, was not updated about the tournament and I missed it without even realizing!

So to cut the long story short, a few weeks later I was offered a place in the upcoming MT tournament and here I am, training like crazy on a 1mth notice ONCE AGAIN.

Anyway, I figured I could still apply my style into the rule set just as I did in Boxing right?

And that my friends, is the story of accepting my first fight scheduled in '07.

Back to training....


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Stay tune for the Outcome and next on my Combat Calendar would be my 2nd Boxing Match in March at Combat Academy.


“If you make an ass out of yourself, there will always be someone to ride you” - Bruce Lee

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

" The Rebirth "

I am Reborn!!!!

Been very very very busy juggling personal life, relationship, training, new dog, planted tank, FYP!

As you guys probably realised by now, the change in my blog name and title. I have found that I have a clear direction now with my new Alias and Martial path paved ahead for me!

So why "The Gabetula Files" ?

So simple, infact those of you who know me well enough can probably skip the following paragraph.

So heres a breakdown:
  • Gabe - Short form you guys use to address me or IRC nick I have used since the beginning.
  • tula - From the word Tarantula, my 1st true pet obsession and something I feel associated with a young age. You also gotta love their approach to grappling;control and overpower!

Gabe+ Tarantula = The Gabetula Files weblog is Born!


So whats there to expect in 2007?

  1. As before, my personal JKD journey as guided along by Sifu Mark Stewart, IJKD as well as my own learning experiences and encounters.
  2. Updates on Zeal FightGear- my official sponsor.
  3. Martial Art/technique Talk ( E.g The Straight Lead,08/06)
  4. Martial Arts Product reviews
  5. What im doing/training, competitively/non-competitively
  6. Last but not least, A Bruce Lee quote at the end of each post!
As promised,

“I am not teaching you anything. I just help you to explore yourself” -Bruce Lee

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